Sparking gyroscope



May 5, 1936. Y L. MARX Z,@39,819

' SPARKI'NG GYROSCOPE Filed Jan. 24, 1935 7 3O mvENToR LOUIS Marx ATTORNEYS Patented May 5, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPARKING GYROSCOPE Louis Marx, New York, N. Y.

Application January 24, 1935, Serial No. 3,234

8 Claims. (01. 4650) This invention relates to toy gyroscopes.

The primary object of my invention is to generally improve the conventional toy gyroscope and to increase the play value of such toys by adding sparking mechanism thereto. I prefer to provide a friction or abrasive surface on the fly-wheel and to mount one or more pyrophoric elements on the cage within-which the fly-wheel rotates. For convenience, I will hereafter refer to the pyrophoric elements as flints, although it is no longer customary to use true flint for this purpose. Because of the friction between the fly-wheel and cage, augmented by the sparking mechanism, the cage itself rotates though at a speed very much slower than that of the fiy-' wheel, andthe rotation of the cage causes the sparking points to revolve, resulting in a circle or band of sparks or illumination which is very attractive to observe.

Further objects of my invention are to devise sparking mechanism which is simple in construction, light in weight; which may be made at minimum cost; and which operates for the satisfactory production of sparks with a minimum of frictional resistance to rotation of the fiy-wheel in order not to unnecessarily shorten the operating time of the toy. I

Still another object of my invention resides in the provision of sparking mechanism which may be used or not, as desired, and to this end the sparking mechanism is located at one side of the fly-wheel, and the flint contact is made gravitational so that the sparking mechanism is operated when the toy is placed on one end or pole, but is made inoperative when the toy is placed on the opposite end or pole. The gravitational contact between the flint and friction surface is incidentally of value in facilitating the reduction of friction to a minimum, as aforesaid.

Still another object of my invention is to make the sparking mechanism readily removable and replaceable. This makes it possible to convert the toy to a non-sparking or conventional gyroscope and also to replace the flints when worn.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and other objects which will hereinafter appear, my

invention consists in the sparking gyroscope elements and their relation one to the other, as hereinafter are more particularly described in the specification and sought to be defined in the claims. The specification is accompanied by a drawing in which:

Fig. 1 shows the sparking gyroscope in opera- 55 tion;

Fig. 2 is a section taken in elevation through the gyroscope;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken in the plane of the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 shows the gyroscope so positioned as to 5 make the sparking mechanism inoperative.

Referring to the drawing, the gyroscope comprises a cage C within which there is freely rotatably mounted a fiy-wheel F. The sparking mechanism includes a friction or abrasive surface 10 and. one or more pyrophoric elements or flints movable relatively thereto. I prefer to mount the abrasive surface A on one side of the flywheel while the flints are borne by a suitable holder I-I itself loosely carried in the cage C. 5

Considering the arrangement in greater detail, the cage C comprises a meridian circle-I2 and an equatorial circle I4 preferably made of band or strip metal and secured together in perpendicular planes. Bearing pins I6 and I8 are threadedly 20 received in meridian circle l2 at the poles of the cage. Bearing pin I6 may be slotted, as indicated at 20, while bearing pin l8 may be rounded and counter-bored as indicated at 22.

The fly-wheel F is preferably made of a single 25 piece of metal and is fixedly mounted on a suitable spindle 24. The ends of spindle 24 may be turned down to form bearings 26 which are received within mating bearing seats formed in the inner ends of pins I6 and I8. The threaded re- 30 lation of pins I6 and I8 in meridian circle I2 affords adjustment of the bearings and is therefore a desirable feature for that reason alone, although in the present toy it possesses an even more important advantage in making it readily 35 possible to remove and replace the flint holder H. The spindle 24 is provided with a suitable hole 30 for receiving the end of a cord used to set the fiy-wheel into high speed rotation. It will be noted that the hole 30 is located at the end re- 40 mote from the abrasive surface A, this being desirable in order to avoid interference by the sparking mechanism with the operating cord.

Abrasive surface A may be formed of an annular sheet 32 of emery paper or emery cloth ce- 45 mented on the web 34 of the fly-wheel between the rim 36 and the hub 38. It will be understood, however, that if desired an appropriate friction surface may be formed directly in the metal flywheel, or abrasive grains may be cemented di- 50 rectly to the surface of the flywheel.

The holder H is preferably made of stiff lightweight fibre. The strip of material is apertured or cut away at the center 40 in order to clear the spindle 24. As here illustrated, two fiints 42 are 7 toy of this class.

used. These have their'outer ends 44 secured to holder I-I, while their inner ends are directed toward the abrasive surface. Eyelets 46, made of thin light-weight sheet metal, may be preliminarily applied to holder strip H, and the flints may be secured in place by swaging or riveting the ends 44 within the eyelets 46. In the present construction it is not intended that the flints be replaceable on the holder, and instead the entire holder is replaced when the flints become worn.

The ends of holder H are stepped to form fingers 48 and transverse edges 50, best shown in Fig. 3. The spacing between edges 50 is made substantially less than the diameter of meridian circle l2, thus providing clearance for movement of the holder toward and away from the fly-wheel. Fingers 48 project slightly beyond meridian circle I2 and operate to prevent rotation of the holder relative to the cage. It will be evident from inspection of Fig. 2 that the contact between the iiints 42 and the abrasive surface A depends solely on gravitational attraction on the flint holder. The flint holder is purposely made light in order to minimize the frictional resistance to rotation of the fly-wheel. The ends of the holder are so shaped relative to the. cage that the holder may be said to be carried loosely within the cage 'in every respect except the prevention of rotation. In actual operation, the holder vibrates or bounces around with extreme freedom, and the flints rest on the abrasive surface in a floating or automatically self-adjusting V manner.

The sparking mechanism is operative when the gyroscope is placed on the pole or pin I8, as is indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, but is rendered inoperative when the gyroscope is inverted and placed on the pole or pin l6, as is indicated in Fig. 4. In the latter position, the holder H descends within the cage until the transverse edges 50 rest on meridian circle l2, at which time the flints 42 are retracted from the fiy-wheel. In this position the gyroscope operates like the ordinary While it is possible to employ a flint holder on each side of the fly-wheel, I prefer the present arrangement, first, for simplicity, secondly to avoid interference between the operating cord and the flint holder, and thirdly because the toy runs longer when the sparking feature is not employed; and I consider it desirable to make both sparking and non-sparking operation freely available.

It may be observed that the slotted pin I6 is located at the same side of the gyroscope as the sparking mechanism. This arrangement is not essential but I consider the same to be preferable for the reason that the slotted end is usually used to perform tricks, such as sliding down a slightly. inclined tight wire, for which purpose maximum duration of high speed rotation of the fly-wheel is desirable. Furthermore, rotation of the cage during sparking operation is desirable in order to produce a band or ring of illumination, and the unslotted pin l8 facilitates rotation of the cage, although the cage will also rotate on the slotted end, except when the slotted end is placed on a wire. In any case, the threaded mounting'of pins I6 and H3 in the cage makes it possible for the user of the toy to reverse the arrangement whenever desired.

It is believed that the mode of constructing and using, as well as the many advantages of my improved gyroscope, will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description. The performance of the toy is enlivened and beautified by the pyrophoric effect produced in operation. The sparking mechanism is particularly effective because the fairly rapid rotation of the cage causes the sparking points to revolve. The sparking feature may be made operative or inoperative by simply reversing the position of the cage. The mechanism is simple and inexpensive in construction and operates with a minimum of friction. Wear of the pyrophoric elementsor flints is minimized, but when worn out they may be removed and replaced. It is also possible to remove the fiint holder entirely, in which case the toy may be operated as an ordinary gyroscope. The flint holder, being made of fibre rather than sheet metal, presents no sharp edges which might 7 lead to injury when using the toy.

It will be apparent that while I have shown and described my invention in the preferred form, many changes and modifications may be made. in the structure disclosed, without departing from the spirit of the invention, defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. The'combination with a gyroscope comprising a cage and a fly-wheel rotatable in said cage, of sparking mechanism including a friction surface on said fly-wheel, and an elongated holder resting loosely in said cage and carrying one or more flints adapted to rest gravitationally on the friction surface, the ends of said holder contasting with said cage and being so constructed as to locate the holder in desired position.

2. The combination with a gyroscope comprising a cage and a fly-wheel freely rotatable in said cage, of sparking mechanism including a friction surface on one face of said fly-wheel, and a strip of light-weight fibre board carried loosely in said cage and bearing a pair of fiints adapted to rest on the friction surface, said holder being light in weight and devoid of special means for moving the same toward the fly-wheel in order to minimize frictional resistance to rotation of the fly-wheel, the ends of said holder contacting with said cage and being so shaped as to locate the holder in desired position.

3. The combination with a gyroscope comprising a cage and a fly-wheel freely rotatable therein, of sparking mechanism including a friction surface mounted on one face of and rotatable with said flywheel, and an elongated flint holder mounted in said cage at the aforesaid side of the flywheel, the ends of said holder contacting with said cage and being so constructed as to locate the holder in desired position, but said holder being freely movable to a limited extent toward or away from said fly-wheel, whereby said sparking mechanism is operative when the gyroscope is placed with the sparking mechanism on top and is inoperative when the gyroscope is placed With the sparking mechanism on bottom.

4. A sparking gyroscope comprising a cage, a fly-Wheel and spindle freely rotatable within said cage, a friction surface on the side of the flywheel, a flint holder comprising a light-weight strip loosely mounted in said cage and carrying a pair of flints directed toward said friction surface, said holder being disposed diametrically of the fly-wheel and being cut away at its center to clear the fly-wheel spindle, the ends of said holder being so shaped as to bear loosely against and to cooperate with said cage in order to prevent rotation of the holder relative to the cage.

5. A sparking gyroscope comprising a cage,

bearing pins threadedly removably mounted at opposite sides of the cage, a flywheel and spindle freely rotatable within said cage on said bearing pins, a friction surface on the side of the flywheel, a flint holder comprising a light-weight fibre strip loosely mounted in said cage and carrying a pair of flints directed toward said friction surface, said holder being disposed diametrically of the fly-wheel and having an oversize hole at its center through which the fly-wheel spindlepasses, the ends of said holder being so shaped as to bear loosely against and to cooperate with said cage in order to prevent rotation of the holder relative to the cage, said holder being readily removable and replaceable by loosening the aforesaid bearing pins to release the fly-wheel spindle.

6. A sparking gyroscope comprising a cage including a meridian circle, an equatorial circle, a fly-wheel and spindle rotatably mounted in said cage with the spindle extending from pole to pole and the fly-wheel located within the equatorial circle, a friction surface on the side of said fly-wheel, a flint holder comprising a lightweight strip disposed diametrically at the aforesaid side of the fly-wheel, the center of said strip being provided with a hole through which the spindle passes, one or more flints secured to the holder and directed toward the friction surface, and means at the ends of said holder cooperating with the meridian circle to prevent rotation of the holder relative to the cage.

7. A sparking gyroscope comprising a cage including a meridian circle, an equatorial circle, and bearing pins threadedly received in the meridian circle at the poles of the cage, a flywheel and spindle rotatably mounted in said cage with the spindle extending from pole to pole and the fiy-wheel located within the equatorial circle, a friction surface on the side of said flywheel, a flint holder comprising a light-weight strip disposed diametrically at the aforesaid side of the fly-wheel, the center of said strip being provided with a hole through which the spindle passes, one or more flints secured to the holder and directed toward the friction surface, and means at the ends of said holder cooperating with the meridian circle to prevent rotation of the holder relative to the cage while affording movement of the holder toward and from the flywheel.

8. A sparking gyroscope comprising a cage including a meridian circle, an equatorial circle, and bearing pins threadedly received in the meridian circle at the poles of the cage, a flywheel and spindle rotatably mounted in said cage with the spindle extending from pole to pole and the fly-wheel located within the equatorial circle, a friction surface on one side of said fiy-wheel, a flint holder comprising a light-weight strip of fibre disposed diametrically at the aforesaid side of the fly-wheel, the center of said strip being provided with an oversize hole through which the fly-wheel spindle passes, a pair of flints having their outer ends secured to the holder with their inner ends directed toward the friction surface, the ends of said holder being stepped to provide projecting fingers and transverse edges, the distance between said transverse edges being substantially smaller than the diameter of the cage, whereby said holder may descend and the flints move away from the friction surface when the cage is located with the sparking mechanism on bottom, said projecting fingers being adapted to bear against the meridian circle in order to prevent rotation of the holder relative to the cage.

LOUIS MARX. 

